E-commerce: Four Tips for a Better Customer Experience on the Web

* Provide plenty of info early and often throughout the buying process. Fry specified that placing the right amount of information in your customers’ hands as soon as they want it will make your Web site a better shopping destination. In addition to product specs, he suggested that marketers provide customers with after-care instructions, warranty details and other relevant information in PDF files to download at their leisure. In particular, “Buying guides for complex products produce a dramatic revenue lift for those users who traffic them,“ Fry said.

He also suggested placing shipping information as early in the shopping funnel as possible. “One of the biggest reasons for shopping cart abandonment is shipping info surprising people late in the buying process,” Fry pointed out. Ultimately, he said, “Confidence creates conversion. Do everything you can to make your customers have confidence in your Web site.”